3/19/15 9:15 AM EDT

Saal, who created and runs the show, hosted by Al Sharpton, will become an executive producer at Bloomberg and help develop new programming. He has been with MSNBC for more than a decade.

“I’ve really enjoyed working with Matt since he first joined us in 2002. He’s made significant contributions across our network, including building the talented team we have in place at PoliticsNation, and we look forward to carrying on their great work on the show. We are going to miss Matt and wish him the best of luck,” MSNBC President Phil Griffin told TVNewser.

Saal was previously an executive producer on “The Rachel Maddow Show” and was co-creator of “The Chris Matthews Show.”

Despite ratings problems and big shakeups at MSNBC, TVNewser reports that Saal’s departure isn’t necessarily a sign that Sharpton’s show will be canceled. Two senior producers will take Saal’s place until a permanent replacement is found. Network executives told the On Media blog that they are considering moving “PoliticsNation” to weekends.

2/26/15 10:59 AM EDT

AP Photo

More allegations of exaggerations from Fox News host Bill O’Reilly are popping up, most recently from the liberal activist website Media Matters, which reports that O’Reilly claimed several times to have witnessed nuns being shot in El Salvador when O’Reilly wasn’t in the country.

In a 2005 segment on his radio show and in a 2012 episode of his Fox News show, O’Reilly said he saw nuns “get shot in the back of the head” while covering the civil war. The incident, in which four American nuns were raped and shot, happened in December 1980. But in his book “The No Spin Zone” and on other occasions, O’Reilly said he didn’t arrive in El Salvador until 1981.

"My mother, for example, doesn't understand evil. When I would tell her, for example, 'Hey, I was in El Salvador and I saw nuns get shot in the back of the head,' she almost couldn't process it," O'Reilly said on his Fox News show on the day of the shootings at a Newtown, Connecticut, elementary school in 2012.

In a statement to Mediaite, O’Reilly said he was referring to seeing images of the nuns being shot, not being present there himself.

“While in El Salvador, reporters were shown horrendous images of violence that were never broadcast, including depictions of nuns who were murdered. The mention of the nuns on my program came the day of the Newtown massacre (December 14, 2012). The segment was about evil and how hard it is for folks to comprehend it. I used the murdered nuns as an example of that evil. That’s what I am referring to when I say ‘I saw nuns get shot in the back of the head.’ No one could possibly take that segment as reporting on El Salvador,” O’Reilly said.

Thus far O’Reilly has been accused of exaggerating claims that he was in a combat zone in Argentina during the Falklands War and witnessed protesters being shot, that he was on the porch of the house where an associate of Lee Harvey Oswald killed himself.

Fox News is continuing to stand behind O’Reilly, its top-rated host, charging that the recent allegations are part of “an orchestrated campaign by far left advocate Mother Jones and Media Matters” and that responding to the claims has become “an exercise in futility.”

2/24/15 7:35 PM EDT

Fox News host Bill O’Reilly has repeatedly lied about being present at the suicide of Lee Harvey Oswald associate George S. de Mohrenschildt, the left-leaning watchdog group Media Matters alleged in a new report on Tuesday.

In his book “Killing Kennedy” and in several other appearances, O’Reilly has said that as a reporter for the Dallas-based station WFAA-TV he was on the porch of de Mohrenschildt’s daughter’s house in Palm Beach, Florida, when he heard de Mohrenschildt shoot himself with a shotgun in March 1977.

“At the time, de Mohrenschildt had been called to testify before a congressional committee looking into the events of November 1963. As the reporter knocked on the door of de Mohrenschildt’s daughter’s home, he heard the shotgun blast that marked the suicide of the Russian, assuring that his relationship with Lee Harvey Oswald would never be fully understood. By the way, that reporter’s name is Bill O’Reilly,” O’Reilly wrote in the 2012 book.

Two former colleagues of O’Reilly’s at WFAA-TV, Byron Harris and Tracy Rowlett, told Media Matters O’Reilly was in Dallas at the time of de Mohrenschildt’s suicide.

Media Matters also points to the autobiography of Gaeton Fonzi, an investigator on the House Select Committee on Assassinations, who wrote that O’Reilly called him to ask about the assassination.

“About 6:30 that evening I received a call from Bill O’Reilly, a friend who was then a television reporter in Dallas. ‘Funny thing happened,’ he said. ‘We just aired a story that come over the wire about a Dutch journalist saying the Assassinations Committee has finally located de Mohrenschildt in South Florida. Now de Mohrenschildt’s attorney, a guy named Pat Russell, he calls and says de Mohrenschildt committed suicide this afternoon. Is that true?” Fonzi wrote.

Taped telephone conversations between Fonzi and O’Reilly also reportedly have O’Reilly telling Fonzi that he “has been trying to run down the story by telephone from Texas” but that he’d be heading to Florida to investigate it further.

Last week, Mother Jones journalists David Corn and Daniel Schulman alleged in a report that O'Reilly lied about being present in a "war zone" and "combat situation" during the Falklands War, and that he witnessed many people killed during violent demonstrations. O’Reilly has fiercely defended himself, addressing the issue on his show and going on the offensive, attacking Corn and Schulman and most recently threatening a New York Times reporter with repercussions if he felt her coverage was inappropriate.

But the controversy might be good for O’Reilly. His show on Monday night tracked up 3.32 million viewers and 568,000 viewers in the key demo as he addressed the controversy, doubling CNN’s and tripling MSNBC’s in the same hour.

A Fox News spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment from O’Reilly regarding the Media Matters report.

2/24/15 10:47 AM EDT

Conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt will have a chance to ask questions of the Republican presidential nominees during the second GOP primary debate, the Republican National Committee announced on Tuesday.

CNN, a host of the debate, will partner with Salem Media Group, which will also air the debates live. The second debate will take place in California at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library on Sept. 16. CNN is confirmed to host two of the GOP primary debates, with a third pending.

"I am delighted to be included with journalists posing questions as part of one of America's finest political traditions -- the presidential debate," Hewitt said in a statement. "These debates come at a critical time, and good questions will allow Republican primary voters the opportunity to see and hear their would-be nominees provide answers to issues that genuinely concern them. Any reporter who is also a political junkie welcomes the chance to be on such a panel, which of course I do."

Pairing conservative media figures with mainstream media is part of the RNC's new plan for the debates, which include wrangling them down from the 20 or so held in the previous cycle. Salem, which has become a leading power in conservative websites and radio, said it will soon be announcing more of its radio hosts as leading participants in other GOP debates.

“I’m thrilled that Salem will partner with three of our Republican primary debates that will be aired on CNN. When we set out to improve the debates, I promised conservative media would be part of the process,” RNC Chairman Reince Priebus said in a statement. “Salem will help the Republican Party have meaningful debates about new ideas for the future, while Democrats simply coronate Hillary Clinton.”

A source with knowledge of the agreement said CNN host Jake Tapper will be one of the debate's moderators, though a CNN spokesperson said no final decision on moderators has been reached. (The Washington Examiner reported the same earlier this morning.)

Correction: An earlier version of this post stated that Hewitt would be a co-moderator of the debate. He will instead "join in the Q&A of this debate," per the RNC memo.

2/20/15 6:07 PM EDT

Attorney General Eric Holder met with a group of journalists and media industry representatives on Thursday as part of their ongoing discussions about Justice Department relations with the media.

The journalists “expressed appreciation for the Attorney General’s willingness to undertake further revisions to the Department’s media guidelines,” which have new language about when it is appropriate to subpoena reporters and search newsrooms, according to a readout of the meeting. They also praised his decision “to not seek to compel testimony from New York Times reporter Jim Risen” about his sources for his reporting on the CIA’s plans to undermine Iran’s nuclear program.

Risen recently took to Twitter to express his displeasure with Holder’s handling of press relations, promising to spend the rest of his life “fighting to undo damage done to press freedom in the United States by Barack Obama and Eric Holder.”

Justice Department officials said the revised media guidelines will soon be included in the U.S. Attorney’s Manual and that they will soon produce the first annual report of statistical data quantifying the use of media-related legal processes in 2014.

Holder said during the meeting “that he valued the Department's ongoing dialogue with the news industry representatives and was confident the Department would continue to conduct these meetings even after he steps down.”

“It was a positive and constructive meeting, a good wrap-up to our work with Attorney General Holder and an opportunity to stress the importance of continuing the dialogue with the new attorney general. It was set a few weeks ago,” said Associated Press General Counsel Karen Kaiser.

2/20/15 9:39 AM EDT

MSNBC and Telemundo host José Díaz-Balart will host President Barack Obama for a town hall in Florida next Wednesday, which will be a join broadcast in primetime on MSNBC and Telemundo, Díaz-Balart announced Friday morning.

Diaz-Balart will interview Obama and host a bilingual town hall focusing on immigration. Díaz-Balart hosts “The Rundown with José Díaz-Balart” from Miami, and the town hall will be held at Florida International University.

“This is a tremendous opportunity for the president to continue to make the case to the American public and the Hispanic community that this continues to be a priority for him,” White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said Friday on MSNBC. “We’ve chosen this town hall forum because the president has a desire to engage in a genuine conversation about issues important to the community."

Díaz-Balart has interviewed Obama ten times, most recently in December on his MSNBC show.

2/19/15 2:33 PM EDT

Conservative media company Newsmax pledged $1 million last year to the Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton Foundation over a five-year period, the Wall Street Journal reports.

But don’t consider the donation an endorsement from Newsmax CEO Christopher Ruddy, his spokesperson said in an interview.

“First of all, Chris views the foundation — as many people do — as being bipartisan, and there’s a lot of people including other conservatives that donate. That’s important. He’s not endorsing anyone for president,” the spokesperson said.

"There are a number of people out there who make great presidential candidates, and Chris certainly believes Hillary will make a great presidential candidate. But in terms of who he’s voting for or endorsements, no one is saying anything in that capacity,” he continued. “It’s much ado about nothing in the grand scheme of things. He’s got a lot of great relationships that cross many party lines.”

The Clinton Foundation does have bipartisan support, with people from all sides of the aisle donating and participating in programs. But Ruddy has gone farther: In 2012, he wrote a blog post for the Clinton Foundation website about public-private partnerships and health care in Mozambique.

Ruddy has marketed Newsmax as a kinder, gentler version of Fox News. He recently expanded the heavily trafficked website into a TV channel, and last summer he secured a distribution deal with DishTV.

2/19/15 10:13 AM EDT

On Wednesday, MSNBC announced that chef and TV personality Tom Colicchio will be the network’s first-ever food correspondent. But Colicchio, who’s been an active advocate in the food policy arena, won’t be giving up storming the halls of Congress on behalf of better food policy just because of his "correspondent" label.

“I think I’ll be somewhat of an advocate for better food systems, and I see my role also as a correspondent. I think you can separate the two, as long as you’re being honest; for me, it’s about presenting both sides of the situation,” Colicchio said in an interview. “I think food is a common denominator, and it has the ability to bring people together to have a balanced discussion and present both sides of the conversation and have people talking with each other instead of talking at or over each other.”

The “Top Chef” head judge will have his own weekly show on MSNBC’s digital-only venture Shift, called “Stirring the Pot.” He will also appear across the rest of the MSNBC on shows like "Morning Joe" and "Rachel Maddow" with segments such as one called “Everyone Eats,” which will feature interviews with newsmakers about food. Colicchio said he will be focusing on issues such as labeling and transparency, food safety, overfishing, hunger and nutrition (including school lunch programs) and the effects of agriculture on the environment.

Colicchio is intimately familiar with Washington, D.C. He has lobbied and testified before Congress, co-founded a 501(c)(4) in 2012 called Food Policy Action (which advocates for things like labeling genetically modified food) and casually refers to Congress as “the Hill” while easily dropping the names of members he has worked with on food policy and hunger issues: Reps. Chellie Pingree (D-Maine), Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) and Jim McGovern (D-Mass.). But Colicchio said he wants to bring members together in a nonpartisan way over food and talk about solutions to the big food issues on the table.

“I want to reach out to the Paul Ryans. A lot of Republicans are now starting to talk about poverty. I don’t believe you have any member of Congress who thinks someone should go hungry, but I think we may all have different solutions on how that works. But again let’s have that conversation instead of talking over each other. It’s very easy for the average person to say, ‘Oh, well, the system is broken, who cares,’ but it’s all we have. So somehow we have to make it work. Maybe food is one thing that can unite people to have a conversation. Those are my hopes and dreams,” Colicchio said.

Colicchio added that he’s been told that he can stay active with Food Policy Action while working for MSNBC.

And despite his lack of media experience, Colicchio said he’s not afraid of being able to take such complex issues and distill them into understandable segments.

“I know a story when I see it, and I think I understand how to … present it. Maybe coming at this from a food angle is a different way to present it where people can digest it more. These are kitchen table issues, so maybe if they’re presented differently, maybe then they’re easier to digest,” Colicchio said. “Obviously, I will rely on producers who can guide this. I think that the time I’ve spent looking at some of these issues and talking to people who are more expert than I am, just trying to boil it down and trying to get to the essence of what the issue is, maybe that is the reason I have an advantage to presenting this material in a way people can understand better.”

While it may look like MSNBC is venturing into the same tactics as CNN is with special series and new, untraditional correspondents, Colicchio said his venture with MSNBC will look nothing like his friend Anthony Bourdain’s show “Parts Unknown” on CNN, which focuses more on eating food, travel and global issues.

The idea for Colicchio to join MSNBC in an official capacity came about a year ago when he met with MSNBC President Phil Griffin and threw out some ideas about working with the network.

“There are few voices — if any — that are as passionate as Tom Colicchio is when talking about the food we eat and how it impacts our families and communities. I’ve long been a fan of his work and am thrilled that Tom’s fresh perspective will be integrated across all our platforms, from TV to Shift to social media,” Griffin said in a statement. “Tom’s values, expertise and focus on advocacy are a perfect match for MSNBC and we can’t wait to watch his original and in-depth reporting in action.”

2/11/15 10:02 PM EDT

Bob Simon, the veteran CBS News reporter and "60 Minutes" correspondent, died in a car crash Wednesday, the network confirmed. He was 73.

According to the New York Post, the car he was riding in crashed with a Mercedes and lost control before crashing into a traffic rail on the West Side Highway in New York City around 7 p.m.

"It's a terrible loss for all of us at CBS News," "60 Minutes" Executive Producer Jeff Fager said in a statement. "It is such a tragedy made worse because we lost him in a car accident, a man who has escaped more difficult situations than almost any journalist in modern times."

"Bob was a reporter's reporter. He was driven by a natural curiosity that took him all over the world covering every kind of story imaginable," Fager said. "There is no one else like Bob Simon. All of us at CBS News and particularly at 60 Minutes will miss him very much."

According to CBS, Simon was in the midst of a piece on on the Ebola virus and the quest for a cure for this Sunday’s broadcast. He was working on this piece with his daughter Tanya, a producer for "60 Minutes."

“Bob Simon was a giant of broadcast journalism, and a dear friend to everyone in the CBS News family. We are all shocked by this tragic, sudden loss. Our thoughts and prayers are with Bob’s extended family and especially with our colleague Tanya Simon,” CBS News President David Rhodes said in a statement.

Simon spent five decades as a correspondent with CBS, joining the network in 1967. According to CBS, he was aboard one of the last helicopters out of Saigon in 1975 at the end of the Vietnam War. During the Gulf War in 1991, Simon and three of his colleagues spent 40 days in Iraqi prisons, after being captured by Iraqi forces at the border between Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. Simon wrote about the experience in his book “Forty Days.”

He had reported from around world, from Tel Aviv, to Northern Ireland, Portugal, Cyprus, the Falkland Islands, the Persian Gulf, Yugoslavia and American military actions in Grenada, Somalia and Haiti. Simon has been awarded 25 Emmys (including a Lifetime Achievement Award), four Peabody awards, an Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award and several Overseas Press Club awards.

Simon was born on May 29, 1941, in the Bronx, N.Y., and graduated from Brandeis University in 1962 with a degree in history. He served as an American Foreign Service officer, a Fulbright scholar and a Woodrow Wilson scholar. He is survived by his wife, Françoise, and their daughter, Tanya, who is a producer for "60 Minutes," according to CBS News.

Simon's most recent piece for "60 Minutes" aired on Sunday and was about the director of the movie "Selma," Ava DuVernay. He's been a correspondent with "60 Minutes" since 1996, becoming a full-time correspondent for the news magazine in 2005.

Tributes immediately began pouring in on Wednesday.

"One of the great writers of a generation has passed. Bob Simon was a journalist of extraordinary courage," CBS News' Scott Pelley tweeted.

"Form the time I was a kid watching CBS News growing up, I admired and looked up to Bob Simon ... to me he was everything a reporter should be, that I dreamed of being and still to this day hope to be a quarter of a reporter and a writer Bob Simon is and has been," CNN's Anderson Cooper, also a contributor to "60 Minutes" said on CNN Wednesday evening. "Bob Simon was a legend in my opinion, and somebody I was intimidated by. ... You knew when Bob Simon presented a story on '60 Minutes' you knew it was going to be something special no matter what it was."

"Bob Simon was an incredible journalist. What a shame. My heart goes out to his wife, daughter, and the entire CBS family," Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) tweeted on Wednesday.

2/4/15 10:13 AM EDT

Fox News has chosen to publish the full 22-minute video of Jordanian pilot Muath al-Kasaesbeh being burned alive by ISIL terrorists on the Fox website and show stills from the video on its Tuesday night broadcast.

Some outlets, like CBS News, showed short clips of the video but stopped before the actual burning of the pilot. Others, such as Breitbart, linked to the video and posted stills of the pilot on fire. CNN said in a statement it is not showing any images from the video on its platforms, but will describe it. MSNBC is showing some stills from the video but not the portion in which the pilot is burned alive.

On Tuesday night Fox host Bret Baier explained why the network had decided to show images of the pilot’s murder.

“Tonight we are going to show you some of the images ISIL has put out from a long slickly produced video. The images are brutal, they are graphic, they are upsetting. You may want to turn away. You may want to have the children leave the room right now,” Baier said. “The reason we are showing you this is to bring you the reality of Islamic terrorism and to label it as such. We feel you need to see it so we will put up one of the images on your screen right now.”

We reached out to Fox News for further comment and will update here accordingly.

UPDATE (1:13 p.m.): A Fox News spokesperson sends the following statement from Executive Vice President and Executive Editor John Moody:

After careful consideration, we decided that giving readers of FoxNews.com the option to see for themselves the barbarity of ISIS outweighed legitimate concerns about the graphic nature of the video. Online users can choose to view or not view this disturbing content.

2/3/15 6:04 PM EDT

Back on election night 2000, John Ellis — a first cousin of the Bush family — was working on the Fox News decision desk, where he was responsible for calling state-by-state results. As our readers may remember, Ellis later admitted he had been in touch with cousins George W. and Jeb, the Florida governor, throughout the evening, which likely explains why Fox News was first to call the Sunshine State for Bush.

For the past two years, Ellis has been serving as vice president of program development at Fox Business Network, which, in addition to covering the 2016 presidential race, will host its very own GOP primary debate.

But there's no conflict of interest, a Fox Business spokesperson says, because Ellis won't be involved in the network's political coverage.

“John Ellis serves as the vice president of program development for FOX Business Network," the spokesperson said in an email. "In this capacity, he has no involvement with political news, of any kind, for either FOX Business or FOX News Channel."